Livestock Farmers’ Perception on Generation of Cattle Waste-based Biogas Methane: the Case of Embu West District, Kenya

Abstract

Perception of livestock farmers on the generation of cattle waste-based biogas methane was evaluated in this study. The study was carried out in Embu West district in Kenya. A random sampling technique was used to gather information related to farmers’ perception and the data collected with the help of self designed questionnaires and face to face interviews. In the study, 92.9% of the one hundred and fifty six (156) livestock farmers practiced zero-grazing and only fourteen (9%) of them had installed biogas digesters in their farms. Chi square tests yielded a value of ? = 0.591, p >0.05 which indicated that there was no significant relationship between uptake of cattle waste-based biogas and farmer’s perception. The hypothesis that low uptake of cattle waste-based biogas technology was due to negative perception of the farmers was found not to hold. Further Chi square tests indicated significant relationship (?=23.56, p< 0.05) between farmers’ perception and knowledge of cattle waste-based biogas methane. Thus livestock farmers in Embu district had a very positive perception and were quite knowledgeable about biogas technology despite the minimal installation of the cattle waste-based biogas digesters. The research findings indicated that other factors like installation cost contribute to the low uptake of biogas technology. These research findings should assist government and industry understand the reason behind public ‘reservations’ in the adoption of biogas technology as well as develop strategies for enhanced promotion of renewable energy technologies.

Keywords: Biogas methane, perception, renewable energy, Embu west